Tim Kaine on Health Care

Democratic Senate Challenger; previously Governor

Let Medicare negotiate rates for prescription drug prices

Kaine noted both Medicare and Social Security are critically important. He said the Medicare budget is growing partially for the good reason that people are living longer. However, Kaine added that the government needs to get costs under control.
Kaine proposed allowing the government to negotiate rates for prescription drug prices. He argues this will save about $250 billion over ten years. Kaine argued that Congress failed to include that provision while Allen was in the Senate for Medicare
Part D. Kaine also promoted examining pilot projects for healthy outcomes, instead of just medical procedures.

Allen on Medicare, said Part D has helped seniors pay for their medications.
Allen claims the $700 billion that "ObamaCare" takes out would hurt seniors. Kaine countered that money would be moved to programs that help seniors live healthier and prevent some medical procedures.

Inaction was not a solution for healthcare

Their differences kicked in as they reacted to the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the individual mandate at the heart of President Barack Obama's health care reform law. Allen watched news reports about the decision. "I'm disappointed that they had
to use all this judicial creativity to call the mandate a tax," Allen said of the majority justices. "Unlike Tim Kaine, who thinks this is a great achievement, I want to be the deciding vote to repeal it."

Kaine said in a statement that insurance premiums and the number of uninsured both rose dramatically during Allen's term in the
Senate. "Clearly, inaction was not a solution, and neither are continued calls for repeal. Instead, we must work together to strengthen this existing program and improve cost controls," Kaine said.

Bush fights states getting cheap Rx for seniors

Many states, following the lead of Illinois, have set up simple ways to help seniors purchase safe, American-made prescription drugs from other countries at a fraction of the price they would pay here. The administration actually fought against that
Democratic effort. In Virginia, we’ve worked to provide health insurance coverage for nearly 140,000 more children. Republicans & Democrats alike have come together to fight the administration’s efforts to slash Medicaid & push more costs onto the states

Our seniors were promised medications but got poor planning

Skyrocketing health care costs are hurting small businesses and pushing millions of working Americans into the ranks of the uninsured. The White House has made efforts to cut Medicaid funds for our most vulnerable citizens. Our seniors were promised that
the new federal Medicare drug plan would make it easier and cheaper to obtain their medication. Instead, many have fallen victim to the program’s poor planning. They find getting their medicine to be more complex, more expensive and less reliable.

One out of 7 Virginians lack health insurance

In Virginia, one out of every seven people lacks health insurance. You probably talked to an uninsured person today.
It may have been the person who handed you your clothes at the dry cleaners, or the server who brought you lunch, or the technician who changed the oil in your car.

Adopt national health reform legislation before the end of the year.

Kaine signed a letter from 22 Governors to Congressional leaders:

In a letter to congressional leadership, 22 governors are urging federal lawmakers to adopt national health reform legislation before the end of the year to provide families and businesses with much-needed security and stability.

"We commend you and your colleagues for provisions included in your bills that will help states," the governors wrote. "Many of the provisions will allow states to achieve long term savings and help cover those who currently go without health coverage. We recognize that health reform is a shared responsibility and everyone, including state governments, needs to partner to reform our broken health care system."

"Efforts at the federal level, like the recent and critical investments that support states' HIV and prevention initiatives, are beginning the work to lower health care costs. Our citizens and our states, however, will only achieve the health care security and stability they need if we succeed in working together to achieve health care reform."

Christian Coalition publishes a number of special voter educational materials including the Christian Coalition Voter Guides, which provide voters with critical information about where candidates stand on important faith and family issues.
The Christian Coalition Voters Guide summarizes candidate stances on the following topic: "Repealing "Obamacare" that forces citizens to buy insurance or pay a tax"

Religious exemption from ObamaCare individual mandate.

Kaine co-sponsored H.R.631 & S.352

Congressional Summary: To provide an additional religious exemption from the individual health coverage mandate. This Act may be cited as the 'Equitable Access to Care and Health Act' or the 'EACH Act'. The 'Religious Conscience Exemption' exempts individuals who are members of a recognized religious sect which relies solely on a religious method of healing, and for whom the acceptance of medical health services would be inconsistent with their religious beliefs.

Supporters reasons for voting YEA: (TheHill.com weblog, April 29, 2013): "We believe the EACH Act balances a respect for religious diversity against the need to prevent fraud and abuse," wrote Reps. Aaron Schock (R-IL) and William Keating (D-MA). "It is imperative we expand the religious conscience exemption now as the Administration is verifying the various exemptions to the individual mandate," they wrote. Religious exemption from ObamaCare has come up before, including contraception.
The EACH Act, however, deals only with exemptions from the insurance mandate.

Opponents reasons for voting NAY: (CHILD, Inc. "Children's Healthcare Is a Legal Duty", Dec. 2014): The Christian Science church is pushing hard to get another religious exemption through Congress. The EACH Act exempts everyone with "sincerely held religious beliefs" from the mandate to buy health insurance. We are particularly concerned about uninsured children: hundreds of American children have died because of their family's religious objections to medical care. The EACH Act increases the risk to children in faith-healing sects and the cost to the state if the children do get medical care. Some complain that their church members should not have to pay for health care that they won't use. But insurance works on the assumption that many in the pool of policyholders will not draw from it. Most people with fire insurance don't have their homes burn, for example.